News

Outgoing Trust Chair, Reuben Lane, introduces the Annual Report and shares some highlights from the 2020-21 year.

Outgoing Trust Chair, Reuben Lane, introduces the Annual Report and shares some highlights from the 2020-21 year. Having been involved in blue penguin monitoring over many years, I was particularly pleased to see the progress on tracking blue penguins supported by the New Zealand Penguin Initiative. We have learned a great deal about the threats to penguins on land over the years and extending our interest into the marine environment with greater rigour will help us better understand the ecology of these smallest of penguins as they forage off the West Coast. Also with the support of the NZPI, we are increasingly inserting Passive Integrated Transponders, or PIT tags, under the skin of blue penguins in our monitored Charleston colonies. The internal microchip can be read by a special antenna, either a handheld wand or a loop that penguins walk over or under.  We hope to install a fixed PIT tag reader soon and that will launch our knowledge to a much higher level as we learn about partner and nest fidelity, returning chicks and so much more. We were all relieved to learn that predation by stoats did not eventuate to the high post mast levels forecast, but we took the opportunity to extend our knowledge about the behaviour of both stoats and tawaki in our three study colonies in South Westland and we have been working with the Department of Conservation to improve predator control in areas where tawaki breed. Bringing penguin detection dog Mena and handler Alastair Judkins to the coast for a couple of weeks was also a highlight. It was wonderful to see the Vizsla get to work to find traces of penguin scent and help identify and confirm blue penguin presence in some key locations. Several of the schools we work with were fortunate to have Alastair and Mena join them during his time on the coast. Read the full report with updates on our many projects and sincere thanks to our many sponsors, donors and Supporters here: WCPT Annual Report 2020-21

The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds want the world talking about the African penguin, a penguin that requires urgent conservation intervention.

The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) want the world talking about the African penguin, a penguin that requires urgent conservation intervention.  They have shared their concerns among the global penguin community and we are sharing their concern through our networks as follows: The African penguin census for South Africa in 2021 is in, and we are now looking at ~10 400 breeding pairs.

• This represents an additional loss of 25% (about 3000 pairs) of the population from 2019 when the last assessment was done.
• There are NO colonies in South Africa with > 5000 breeding pairs, actually, none with >2000 breeding pairs
• 5 colonies have gone extinct since 2005
• The species is now easily at <3% of historical numbers

You are all well aware of the threats they face and what’s being done to prevent mortality, promote breeding success and recruitment. It’s the improvement of their access to food that we are particularly worried about. We (3 NGOs of SANCCOB, BirdLifeSA and WWFSA) have been engaging on a number of fronts to address this, not the least of which is with the Minister (Forestry, Fisheries and Environment). The Minister has initiated a process within government to look at the state of knowledge (as relates to island closures); assess knowledge gaps and come up with recommendations. That synthesis report has been drafted, and the team are now busy drafting recommendations. This is a very good thing. The decision on the way forward on Island Closures will be made by the Minister before the end of this year. Recently, a company called Red Rocks produced a documentary for Netflix called 'Penguin Town'. It was filmed at Simon’s Town, with a little bit on site at SANCCOB too. It is a series of 8 episodes, each about 30min each. They have taken a rather different approach from the usual documentary and have used the science to construct a story that enables the whole family to watch. Despite the anthropomorphic take on it, the series does a great job of story-telling, yet at the same time provides very good subtle messages that older audiences will get – just how hard life is for these birds. So if you haven’t watched it yet, please do! Trailer here Following on from this fun Netflix series, we have just filmed a more ‘serious bit’ with some of our partners where we are trying to get the more serious conservation message across. While the video lists some of the threats, we focus on the food availability issues, and are hoping that information it provides enables people to voice their support for the conservation of the species. You can find the video here: How To Save Th African Penguin Panel Discussion - YouTube We’d like to get this out as far and wide as possible and get the world talking about the African penguin. It’s the only species in Africa, and one of 18 (currently) in the world. I know you all know this, but we want to get the message out that this is a global issue, not just a South African/African problem. The other critical message of course is that conservation is everyone’s responsibility, not just for the authorities or NGOs and other conservation related organisations. People need to be using their voices; make environmentally sound decisions etc. So can I ask you to also encourage your networks to engage on: #SaveTheAfricanPenguin so we can keep the conversation going about the plight of African penguins, and also encourage each other to do what we can to make a difference. For further background information, there is the IUCN RED list species fact sheet that people can look at, and we have also created a page dedicated to the African penguin and what people can do at the following link: Save The African Penguin Dr Lauren Waller Leiden Conservation Fellow SANCCOB | S A Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds

   

After two years as Trust Chair, Reuben Lane has stepped down as both Chair and Trustee for the next year to focus on other projects and, at the recent AGM, Robin Long was elected as Chair.

After two years as Trust Chair, Reuben Lane has stepped down as both Chair and Trustee for the next year to focus on other projects and, at the recent AGM, Robin Long was elected as Chair. The Trust is very fortunate to have Robin taking on this role, bringing a great deal of field experience and wisdom to the role as well as five years' experience as a Trustee. Robin Long grew up at Gorge River in remote South Westland and became interested in birds and her surrounding environment from a very young age.  After becoming fascinated with the local breeding population of tawaki (Fiordland penguins), she started carrying out surveys for the Trust at age 14 and has since counted over 1400 nests spread throughout South Westland, Fiordland and Stewart Island.  This helped to better estimate the total tawaki population. Working for DOC in Hokitika monitoring birds, pests and vegetation for the past seven summers allowed her to spend a couple of months each year surveying tawaki and monitoring nests, as well as helping the Tawaki Project to research the 80% of the time that these penguins spend at sea. She is now studying a Postgraduate Diploma in Wildlife Management at Otago University and plans to complete a Masters on alpine jumping spiders – a group of endemic New Zealand species we know nothing about.  For the same reasons she became interested in tawaki when they were poorly known, Robin is passionate about protecting other species that are generally overlooked and receive little or no funding. In her spare time, she enjoys rock climbing, tramping, botany, a range of crafts, and has built herself a tiny house in Hokitika.

Conservation Services Programme funding means more work is underway to understand and better protect Westland petrels - tāiko.

The Conservation Services Programme(CSP) funding means more work is underway to understand and better protect Westland petrels - tāiko. The CSP monitors the impact of commercial fishing on protected species, studies species populations and looks at ways to mitigate bycatch.  Funding comes from levies on fisheries and it is a fundamental principle of CSP that once a bycatch problem is successfully addressed, levies will no longer be charged for that interaction. CSP research projects include interaction studies, bycatch mitigation, population management plans and populations studies.  New work is now underway to examine the population dynamics of the Westland petrel, led by DOC Buller/Kawatiri and with the help of ecological field contractors, Reuben Lane and Matt Charteris, both closely connected to the West Coast Penguin Trust. Work is underway to attach tiny GIS dataloggers to the legs of breeding and non-breeding birds.  These tiny loggers are expected to remain in place for 1-2 years.  Data collected from foraging trips is downloaded during field visits when the birds are in their burrows. In addition, a new GPS transmitter is being trialed for the first time with Westland petrels, the Icarus tag. Also tiny and incorporating a miniature solar panel, these transmitters are attached to tail feathers and will transmit location data continuously.  The tail attachment has been found to be better than on the back of petrels in studies with the Chatham Island tāiko, allowing the birds to preen their feathers more easily and reducing the potential risk of it rubbing it off when coming and going from the burrow.

Matt and Reuben have been out with DOC biodiversity ranger and project leader, Kate Simister recently, monitoring birds and adding the tags.

This year, selecting days when the tide will be low early in the morning, the dates will be 21-27 October.

This year, selecting days when the tide will be low early in the morning, the dates for the Great Annual West Coast Blue Penguin Count will be 21-27 October. An early morning walk on your local beach could be just what you need and provide us with some helpful information as well. We're suggesting that you use the i-Naturalist app as it provides us the locations of any observations - that information is enormously helpful when contributing to planning and resource consent processes. However, if you can't do it during those dates, or would prefer to drop us a line with your findings, we're delighted to receive your observations any time. Find out more on our website: https://www.westcoastpenguintrust.org.nz/projects/great-annual-blue-penguin-count/ We look forward to hearing from you, so pop it in your diary, pick a fine day then enjoy your walk, perhaps take a friend, have fun, stay safe and help us out!

We are looking for a part-time ranger, predominantly in the Buller, mainly Charleston area. 20 hours pw on average. Applications close 5pm, Wednesday 8th September.

We are looking for a part-time ranger, predominantly working in the Buller, mainly in the Charleston area. 20 hours pw on average. Applications close 5pm, Wednesday 8th September. Are you passionate about conservation and want to help protect penguins on the West Coast? We are seeking a dedicated, part-time ranger with backcountry fieldwork experience to carry out our regular monitoring and research. Ideal applicants will have wildlife handling competence plus data processing and computer skills. Hours vary throughout the year and are concentrated on the penguin breeding season: July to December. Most of the work will be carried out alone, so applicants need to be comfortable working independently, planning around weather and other responsibilities, and have a proactive attitude towards health and safety. Objectives such as fortnightly monitoring, data collection and analysis, and reporting, need to be met in a timely manner. A detailed job description is available here. For more information, phone Trust Manager, Inger Perkins, on 03 755 8600. To apply, please submit a CV and cover letter to info@westcoastpenguintrust.org.nz by 5pm, 8th September.

With continued erosion and steep dune faces, Westland Milk Products came to the rescue to help blue penguins near Hokitika.

Coastal erosion north of Hokitika has left blue penguins or kororā struggling to get down to the beach and then back up to their nests after a hard day’s fishing. Last year, volunteers used spades to try to help but the ramps they cut were almost immediately lost when the next high waves hit the coast. This year, as the penguins are starting their breeding season and sitting on nests, Westland Milk Products came to the rescue.  After Westland made sure penguins were safe in the area during the ocean outfall pipeline construction project and then afterwards with a penguin protection fence, it was a small step to ensure kororā could continue to reach their nests safely earlier this month.

“Westland is committed to a sustainable future and protecting our precious place; protecting wildlife in a situation like this fits that policy”, says Environmental Manager, Chris Pullen. Mr Pullen asked Westroads to take a small digger to the beach and then, under the direction of the West Coast Penguin Trust and with prior approval from the regional council, small ramps were cut where there was already a dip in the dune face. Penguin trust manager, Inger Perkins, explained: “We were concerned about penguins losing access to their nesting sites, being more vulnerable to dogs by spending longer on the beach trying to find a way up or down the dune cliff and wasting valuable energy in doing so.  We checked with the Philip Island penguin colony near Melbourne and they connected us to Dr Teresa Konlechner, a Research Fellow at Melbourne University.  Dr Konlechner told us about the ramps they had cut into the dunes in similar circumstances over there and we put a proposal to the regional council to trial small ramps here.” On the day the ramps were cut, it was clear from the penguin tracks that they were needed.

“The number of penguin tracks trying and failing to find a way up the sand cliff was heart-breaking”, Ms Perkins said. The trust does not expect the ramps to contribute to erosion.  They are small and follow the style of other natural ramps.  However, the ramps will be monitored to ensure this is the case. “Monitoring just a week later shows that the ramps are holding firm and they are all being used by penguins.  We’re hugely grateful to Westland for giving these penguins a great start to their breeding season.”

The Trust's local tawaki rangers monitored nests at three sites in South Westland during the 2020 tawaki breeding season, Knight’s Point, Jackson Head West and Gorge River, to establish breeding success.  Monitoring discontinued when chicks left the nest to creche.  Crèche areas were checked for signs of predation.  Many of these nests also had trail cameras set up to observe breeding success and predator activity and the final sets of images are being analysed through the Jobs 4 Nature programme.  More details to follow once all the data is in. The additional effort to monitor predators during the 2020 breeding season was because it followed a beech mast (massive seedfall event) and it was expected we would see many early chick deaths due to stoat predation, as was observed in the 2016 season.  This did not eventuate.  It is difficult to measure subtleties of the beech mast (timing and local severity), and the subsequent increases in mouse, rat and stoat populations.  Despite this year’s findings, the dynamic forest change led by a beech mast is still present as a threat to all forest dwellers, including tawaki chicks.  We hope to learn more once the imagery from the three colonies has been fully analysed and reviewed. Summary of breeding success, noting that, unless food is unusually abundant or very scarce, and assuming no predation, one chick is usually raised per nest.

Site	Nests monitored	Chicks seen at nest – pre crèching	Breeding success to crèching	Predator / disturbers filmed	Predation events at nest	Predation at creche seen
Knight’s Point	14	14	1	Possum; rat	0	0
Jackson Head West	25	22	0.88	Possum; rat; deer; stoat	0	0
Gorge River	24	20	0.83	Possum; rat; deer	0	0

 

 

Trust Ranger, Matt Charteris, reports that 2020 was a good breeding year for blue penguins on the Buller Coast.  Breeding data supports short foraging trips observed through gps tracking, suggesting that food was not a limiting factor for the 2020 season.  Food appeared to be a problem in the 2019 season and lower breeding success was observed. At localities where disturbance is expected to be present there was a corresponding lower breeding success than areas where disturbance is minimal. The 2021 season is about to begin. Monitoring will continue, including further gps tracking, to continue our long term data set and our understanding of Buller blue penguins. Charleston 2020 season results: The Rahui and Knoll sites receive a monitoring visit every fortnight (mid July – mid January).

Site	Monitored Breeding burrows	Eggs laid	Chicks hatched	Chicks fledged	Chicks per breeding attempt	Breeding success	Failed breeding attempts
Rahui	27	54	52	46	1.70	85.2	1
Knoll	27	54	48	36	1.33	66.7	3

  Other Buller sites 2020 season results: The other monitored Buller sites receive 2 visits during the breeding season (egg period and late chick period).  Not all breeding burrows are necessarily known at these sites and therefore not all breeding burrows are monitored.

Site	Monitored breeding burrows	Eggs laid	Chicks seen	Breeding success	Failed breeding attempts
Foulwind	4	8	5	62.5	0
Whitehorse	10	20	16	80.0	1
Bullock Creek	3	6	6	100	0
Punakaiki River	2	4	4	100	0

 

 

And if you're wondering what that red thing is as our featured image, it is the screen our rangers use when they use a burrowscope for monitoring penguin nests.  A 2m cable with a camera at one end and a viewer - the red box, at the other.  It's not always easy to interpret what they see.

Almost 2000 ANZ staff contribute regular amounts to the bank’s staff foundation charitable trust, matched by ANZ NZ at a rate of $2 for every $1 donated by staff. Charities can apply for a grant, and the West Coast Penguin Trust is one of the latest recipients in a long line of giving. Over $7 million has been donated to more than 870 charities and community projects since 2000 and, for the second time, the ANZ Staff Foundation team really see the value in the education programme and have generously provided their support. Their previous generous grant helped us to expand our education programme to more schools, to more children, and ANZ so loved our story that they created a video to share it and other work of the Trust. This time, the grant will fund around 80% of the cost of the education programme for six months, predominantly supporting our Education Ranger, Lucy Waller, to help teachers and other educators introduce penguins through a variety of activities aligned to the NZ Curriculum.  Penguins are an opportunity to introduce nature and conservation to young minds and encourage the development of conservation values at a crucial age where such values are most likely to be formed. We are hugely grateful to the ANZ Staff Foundation.  Teachers and children love working with us and it's great to know you value us too.